Ultramarine (Modern Classics) by Malcolm Lowry - April 25, 1974

This is the story of Dana Hilliot's first voyage, as mess-boy on the freighter Oedipus Tyrannus bound for Bombay and Singapore; of this struggle to win the approval of his shipmates; trying to match their example in the bars and bordellos of the Chinese ports while at the same time remaining faithful to his first love, Janet, back home in England. Alternating between Dana's own narrative and the ribald humour and colourful language of the seamen's conversation, the novel depicts a boy's initiation into the company of men.